detention without trialhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/taxonomy/term/5970/all
enBritish journalist, 81, denied bail in Bangladeshhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/23171
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<p>An elderly British-Bangladeshi journalist who faces a potential death sentence in Bangladesh has been denied bail, sparking fears for his wellbeing in detention.</p>
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<p class="header_block">An elderly British-Bangladeshi journalist who faces a potential death sentence in Bangladesh has been denied bail, sparking fears for his wellbeing in detention.</p>
<p>Shafik Rehman, an 81-year-old British citizen who has family in the UK, was arrested in April this year, apparently in relation to his activities as a journalist and opposition activist. At a bail hearing on 7 June 2016, a judge is understood to have denied bail to Mr Rehman.</p>
<p>Mr Rehman is a prominent journalist and a former speechwriter for the opposition Bangladesh National Party, and his arrest appears to be politically-motivated. He has been held without charge since his arrest, but the Bangladeshi authorities have suggested they plan to charge him in relation to an alleged plot to kidnap the son of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister.</p>
<p>The government has provided no evidence to support the existence of a kidnap plot, or Mr Rehman’s involvement in it, and in 2015, a judge in the US – who had reviewed the plot allegations as part of a separate US trial – dismissed the allegations on grounds of insufficient evidence.</p>
<p>Shafik Rehman has been held in poor conditions since his arrest, and was rushed to hospital last month after having spent several weeks in solitary confinement without a bed. He remains in a hospital wing of Dhaka Central Jail, and his family are concerned for his health.</p>
<p>Rehman’s arrest comes amid criticism of the Bangladeshi government following a series of recent attacks and arrests involving journalists, bloggers and opposition activists. In its 2015 human rights report on Bangladesh, the UK Foreign Office called for “an effective justice system, and a vibrant civil society and free media, able to challenge and hold authority to account” in Bangladesh.</p>
<p>Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at human rights organisation Reprieve – which is assisting Shafik Rehman’s family – said: <strong></strong>“It is deeply worrying that the Bangladeshi authorities have seen fit to deny bail to an elderly journalist, in what is clearly part of a wider crackdown on the government’s critics.</p>
<p>“Months on from Shafik Rehman’s arrest, the authorities have failed to make any case against him – meanwhile, his family in Britain are desperately worried that he could face the death penalty, or that his health will fail in detention.</p>
<p>“The UK and other countries with close ties to Bangladesh must now urge Mr Rehman’s release, before it’s too late.”</p>
<p>* Reprieve <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/" title="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/">http://www.reprieve.org.uk/</a></p>
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People and PowerNews Briefbangladeshdetention without trialjournalistoppositionReprieveWorld NewsWed, 15 Jun 2016 08:45:19 +0000agency reporter23171 at http://www.ekklesia.co.uk Guantánamo anniversary 'reminder of need for UK torture inquiry'http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/22591
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<p>On the 14th anniversary (11 January) of the first detainees being taken to the now notorious US military detention centre at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, Amnesty International repeated its call for the camp’s closure.</p>
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<p>On the 14th anniversary (11 January) of the first detainees being taken to the now notorious US military detention centre at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, Amnesty International repeated its call for the camp’s closure, saying that the allegations of mistreatment of British nationals and residents at Guantánamo should be investigated as part of a wider independent, judge-led inquiry into the UK’s involvement in torture.</p>
<p>Last week two Yemeni detainees - Mahmud Umar Muhammad bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih al-Dhuby&nbsp;– and a Kuwaiti detainee, Fayez al-Kandari&nbsp;– were transferred out of Guantánamo, bringing the number of remaining detainees at the detention centre down to 104.</p>
<p>Forty-five of those still held&nbsp;– many for over a decade&nbsp;– have been cleared for transfer yet remain behind bars.</p>
<p>When US President Barack Obama came to power seven years ago (January 2009), he signed an executive order for Guantánamo’s closure within a year. Recently the Obama administration has hinted at a plan to close the camp by moving some detainees into the United States for continued indefinite detention.</p>
<p>Amnesty International USA’s Security and Human Rights Director Naureen Shah said: “President Obama’s proposal to relocate some detainees for indefinite detention in the US would merely change Guantánamo’s zip code. It would also set a dangerous precedent that could be exploited by future administrations. President Obama must end, not relocate, indefinite detention without charge.</p>
<p>“The population at Guantánamo can be substantially reduced by transferring the dozens of detainees who have already been approved for transfer. Detainees who cannot be transferred should be charged in federal court or released and investigations should be expanded into reports of torture and other human rights violations suffered by detainees.”</p>
<p>After his release from Guantánamo last October, the UK resident Shaker Aamer alleged that he had been tortured in secret US detention in Afghanistan in early 2002 prior to his rendition to Cuba. As well as US officials, Aamer believes that MI5 officers were present at interrogations during which his head was “repeatedly banged so hard against a wall that it bounced”. Aamer has also alleged that he has been tortured and otherwise ill-treated at Guantánamo. According to his lawyers, he was the subject of hundreds of violent “Forcible Cell Extractions” at the camp, where a team of guards in riot gear forcibly remove a detainee from their cell.</p>
<p>Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: “Shaker Aamer’s chilling allegation that he was tortured in the presence of British agents in Afghanistan should be fully investigated as part of an independent, judge-led inquiry into a whole set of allegations that UK officials were involved in kidnap, detention and torture overseas during the ‘war on terror’.</p>
<p>“Shockingly, Mr Aamer was held for the vast majority of the 14 full years of Guantánamo’s disgraceful existence. Getting to the bottom of what happened to him is part of understanding what has happened at this notorious place.”</p>
<p>* Read Amnesty’s campaign for a UK torture inquiry&nbsp; <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/torture-uk-must-investigate-its-role">here</a>.</p>
<p>*&nbsp; Read the briefing on the Obama government's failure to close down the detention centre <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/3162/2016/en/">here</a>.</p>
<p>* Amnesty International <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/" title="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/">https://www.amnesty.org.uk/</a></p>
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EqualityPeace and NonviolenceNews BriefAmnesty Internationaldetention without trialguantanamo bayhuman rights abusessecurity servicesshaker aamertortureUK governmentUK NewsUS governmentTue, 12 Jan 2016 09:59:38 +0000agency reporter22591 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukObama must ask Brazil for Guantanamo help, say rights groupshttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21840
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<p>President Obama must use a White House meeting with the Brazilian President to request formally the resettling of Guantanamo detainees in Brazil, rights groups have said.</p>
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<p>President Obama must use a White House meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff this week to request formally the resettling of Guantanamo detainees in Brazil, rights groups have said.</p>
<p>The two leaders will meet this week during a rare visit to the US by President Rousseff. In a joint letter sent to the US President this weekend, human rights group Reprieve, Brazilian non-profit Conectas, and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) urged him to ask that Brazil accept prisoners from the US-run military prison. Some 116 men continue to be held there without charge or trial, nearly half of whom have been cleared for release – a process requiring the unanimous agreement of six US federal government agencies. They include Samir Naji Moqbel, a Yemeni man represented by lawyers at Reprieve, who was cleared for release in 2007.</p>
<p>The letter to Mr Obama says: “Guantanamo Bay is an ongoing humanitarian crisis. The Brazilian people and policymakers understand this. Our collective work in Brazil leads us to conclude that Brazil can be a good place to successfully resettle long-term Guantánamo detainees, and that there would be substantial support for Brazil’s taking leadership on this issue. […] President Rousseff’s visit presents the best possible opportunity for you to officially request the Government of Brazil to accept Guantánamo detainees for resettlement.”</p>
<p>The letter concludes “As you said in your State of the Union address, ‘It’s time to finish the job’, and close Guantanamo.”</p>
<p>The call to President Obama follows the resettling of several cleared men to Uruguay in December 2015 – the first Latin American country to accept Guantanamo detainees.</p>
<p>Commenting, Cori Crider, a director at Reprieve and an attorney for several Guantanamo detainees, said: “President Obama has said he wants to close Guantanamo Bay, and the last few months have seen extremely welcome moves by his Administration and other countries to resettle cleared prisoners. But the fact remains that there are still many men locked in Guantanamo without charge or trial, years after they were cleared. </p>
<p>"This is unjust and unacceptable. Barack Obama must take this crucial opportunity and ask the Brazilian people to help give some of these men back their long-deserved freedom.”</p>
<p>* Reprieve <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/" title="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/">http://www.reprieve.org.uk/</a></p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews Briefbrazildetention without trialguantanamo bayresettlementWorld NewsMon, 29 Jun 2015 23:00:00 +0000agency reporter21840 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukFamily of Guantanamo prisoner demand justice in Islamabad courthttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21801
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<p>The Islamabad High Court is to hear a demand that the Pakistani government intervene urgently in the case of a man detained without trial in Guantanamo Bay for over a decade.</p>
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<p>The family of a Pakistani man detained without trial for over a decade in Guantanamo Bay is to demand in the Islamabad High Court that the Pakistani government intervene urgently in his case.</p>
<p>Ahmad Rabbani has been on hunger strike for nearly two years in peaceful protest against his ongoing detention at the American prison camp. The hunger strike is taking a serious toll on his health, and his family will ask the Islamabad High Court to intervene in his case because they fear for his life. The case will be heard by Justice Athar Minallah today (18 June)</p>
<p>In a series of letters recently received by his lawyers, Mr Rabbani has explained how his twice-daily force feeding – which defies all international norms on the treatment of hunger-striking prisoners – is causing uncontrolled vomiting, fainting fits, and fluctuating weight changes.</p>
<p>Lawyers for Mr Rabbani will ask the court tomorrow to order the Pakistani government to secure his release from Guantanamo, citing a range of constitutional protections which have been flouted by the US government in his case.</p>
<p>As part of their evidence, Mr Rabbani’s lawyers will present extracts from the US Senate’s own report into the CIA rendition and interrogation programme in which Mr Rabbani is mentioned by name. The report shows how Mr Rabbani’s original kidnap was a case of mistaken identity, and how he was then subjected to the full range of 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' over nearly two years in secret prisons. Those techniques have been openly described as torture by President Obama himself.</p>
<p>Mr Rabbani’s lawyer and director of the human rights organisation Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith said: “In numerous visits to Ahmad over the last two years, we have watched with increasing upset the damage that the torturous force-feeding regime in Guantanamo is causing to his health and spirits. The Pakistani government can no longer sit silently by, and allow a major ally to do this to a citizen of theirs. I hope the Islamabad High Court will give them the boot that they need, before that damage becomes irreparable.”</p>
<p>* Reprieve <a href="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/" title="http://www.reprieve.org.uk/">http://www.reprieve.org.uk/</a></p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews Briefdetention without trialforce feedingguantanamo baypakistanReprieveUS governmentWorld NewsWed, 17 Jun 2015 23:00:00 +0000agency reporter21801 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukTunisian detainee released from Guantánamo Bayhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21074
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<p>A Tunisian national has been released from Guantánamo Bay after 13 years imprisoned without charge or trial.</p>
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<p>A Tunisian national has been released from Guantánamo Bay after 13 years imprisoned without charge or trial.</p>
<p>Hisham Sliti, who is represented by the legal charity Reprieve, has been resettled in Eastern Europe along with four other detainees.</p>
<p>Siti was sold for a bounty to Pakistani soldiers in December 2001 before being handed to US forces in January 2002 and tortured over four months in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was transferred to Guantánamo in May 2002.</p>
<p>Whilst in Guantánamo, Siti spent years in isolation and suffered abuse. One interrogator, nicknamed “King Kong”, threw a mini-fridge at him, striking him in the face and leaving visible scars.</p>
<p>Reprieve attorney Cori Crider said: "I first met Hisham seven years ago. He no more belonged in prison then than today. This is a welcome day, if long overdue, and Hisham is looking forward to rebuilding his life and starting a family. Let us hope that the dozens of other cleared men left in Gitmo will soon follow."</p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews Briefdetention without trialguantanamo bayWorld NewsMon, 24 Nov 2014 10:04:34 +0000agency reporter21074 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukHigh Court hearing on UK rendition and complicity in torture case beginshttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/20855
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<p>A High Court hearing begins today in the case of a man kidnapped and tortured by British troops in Iraq, rendered to secret detention and held for over a decade without charge or trial.</p>
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<p>A hearing begins today (24 September) at the High Court in the case of a man kidnapped and tortured by British troops in Iraq, before being rendered to secret detention and held for over a decade without charge or trial.</p>
<p>Yunus Rahmatullah, a Pakistani citizen, was captured by British forces in Iraq in 2004. Mr Rahmatullah has told his lawyers at the legal charity Reprieve that UK soldiers dragged him across the ground behind a moving vehicle, waterboarded and beat him until he repeatedly lost consciousness, and forced him to lie in a coffin-like chamber for a prolonged period. Mr Rahmatullah was then handed over to US forces who detained him in Abu Ghraib before rendering him to Bagram Airbase for ten years without charge, trial, or access to a lawyer. He was released in June this year.</p>
<p>After years of government denials that the UK had been involved in any rendition operations, Mr Rahmatullah’s capture by British forces was finally revealed to Parliament in February 2009 by the then-Secretary of State for Defence, John Hutton. After legal action was brought on Mr Rahmatullah’s behalf, the UK government admitted that British officials were aware of a US intention to transfer Mr Rahmatullah from Iraq to Afghanistan at the time, yet did nothing to prevent it. In 2012, the UK Supreme Court suggested that his rendition may have amounted to a war crime, stating:</p>
<p>“The, presumably forcible, transfer of Mr Rahmatullah from Iraq to Afghanistan is, at least prima facie, a breach of article 49 [of the fourth Geneva Convention]. On that account alone, his continued detention post-transfer is unlawful.”</p>
<p>Mr Rahmatuallah, represented by Reprieve and law firm Leigh Day, is now asking the UK government to investigate his treatment at the hands of British forces. He is also seeking a determination from the Court that the UK’s actions were unlawful.</p>
<p>Kat Craig, Legal Director for Reprieve, said: “Yunus Rahmatullah was kidnapped and subjected to horrific torture by the British, who then handed him over to the US for yet more torture and detention. It is an unimaginable ordeal that he has been put through. The UK government must fully investigate their role in this and be held accountable for what they put Mr Rahmatullah through.”</p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews Briefdetention without trialrenditionReprievesecret detentiontortureUK governmentUK militaryUK NewsWed, 24 Sep 2014 09:29:42 +0000agency reporter20855 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukShaker Aamer 'beaten' in latest Guantanamo crackdown http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/20770
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<p>British resident Shaker Aamer has reportedly been beaten at Guantánamo Bay, in evidence of a new crackdown on prisoners protesting their detention without charge.</p>
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<p>British resident Shaker Aamer has reportedly been beaten at Guantánamo Bay, in evidence of a new crackdown on prisoners protesting their detention without charge.</p>
<p>In new letters received by the legal charity Reprieve, detainees reveal what one calls a new “standard procedure” of abuses at the prison. Emad Hassan, a Yemeni detained without charge since 2002, wrote that “an FCE [Forcible Cell Extraction] team has been brought in to beat the detainees […] On Sunday, Shaker ISN 239 was beaten when the medical people wanted to draw blood.” Mr Hassan adds that guards had beaten another detainee for nearly two hours.</p>
<p>‘Forcible Cell Extraction’ or ‘FCEing’ is the process by which a detainee is forced out of his cell by a group of armed guards, often before being taken to the force-feeding chair. Mr Aamer has previously described being beaten by the FCE team up to eight times a day. </p>
<p>Mr Aamer, who has been cleared for release by both the Bush and Obama administrations, has been held for long periods of solitary confinement since 2005 and is in extremely poor health. An independent medical examination conducted earlier this year diagnosed him with severe post-traumatic stress, and recommended urgent psychiatric treatment and “reintegration into his family.”</p>
<p>In June, former Foreign Secretary William Hague told Reprieve that UK officials were confident Mr Aamer had access to a "detainee welfare package” and that his health “remain[ed] stable.” In a letter sent this week, Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith urged Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond to raise urgent questions with the US Government about these latest reports of mistreatment.</p>
<p>Cori Crider, Strategic Director at Reprieve and a lawyer for Mr Aamer, said: “Just weeks ago, the UK Government dismissed our concerns about Shaker Aamer’s wellbeing, relying on US assurances about a so-called Guantanamo ‘welfare package.’ Now we hear that Shaker, already a seriously ill man, has been beaten. Phillip Hammond should seek answers from the US without delay about why, instead of simply releasing Shaker, it prefers to detain and abuse him.” </p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews Briefabusedetention without trialguantanamo bayReprieveshaker aamerUK governmentUK NewsWed, 27 Aug 2014 15:22:32 +0000agency reporter20770 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukUS Judge orders independent medical evaluation of Gunatanamo hunger strikerhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/20730
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<p>A US District Court judge has ordered that independent doctors be allowed into Guantanamo Bay to evaluate a hunger striker whose health has deteriorated so much that there are concerns for his life.</p>
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<p>A US District Court judge yesterday (13 August) ordered that independent doctors be allowed into Guantanamo Bay to evaluate a long-time hunger striker whose health has deteriorated so much that there are now concerns for his life.</p>
<p>In today’s hearing for Syrian Abu Wa'el Dhiab – cleared for release from the prison since 2009 and on continued hunger strike over his ongoing detention without charge or trial – Judge Gladys Kessler ordered that two independent doctors be allowed into the prison to evaluate him. Those doctors will also testify, along with a force-feeding expert, at a hearing scheduled for October 6, about the medical effects of the force-feedings on Mr Dhiab.</p>
<p>Judge Kessler also ordered former prison commander Colonel John Bogdan to answer three questions in writing under oath regarding his involvement in the punitive force-feeding and FCE (Forcible Cell Extraction) tactics used at Guantanamo. Current and former senior medical officers have each been ordered to answer seven questions about their role in the force-feedings. </p>
<p>Mr Dhiab’s lawyer Cori Crider, from the international human rights charity Reprieve, saw him on a legal visit two weeks ago and immediately filed a declaration in which she described him as ‘in great pain’’ and described how he had to lie on the floor during the visit in an attempt to allevaite some of this pain. Mr Dhiab is asking the court to order a halt to the abusive and needlessly brutal practices that are currently being used to force-feed him, which include removing his wheelchair and manhandling him to be force-fed. </p>
<p>Recent revelations about the existence of video footage of Mr Dhiab’s abuse have prompted a formal intervention in the case from 16 major US news organisations. In their latest filing to the court last Friday, the organisations criticised what they said was the Obama Administration’s “blunderbuss claims” that disclosing the tapes would be harmful to national security, calling them “illogical and implausible”, and “contradicted by the Government’s own past disclosures” of details about Guantánamo during extensive press tours.</p>
<p>Reprieve attorney Alka Pradhan, who appeared in court, said: “It is a positive step that independent doctors will be able to evaluate Mr Dhiab and the results of his brutal mistreatment at the hands of Guantanamo officials. Those officials, including the infamous Colonel Bogdan, finally have to answer to the Court for their abuse of peaceful hunger strikers. We look forward to shining a bright light on that abuse at the scheduled hearing in October.”</p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews Briefdetention without trialforce feedingguantanamo bayhunger strikeReprieveWorld NewsThu, 14 Aug 2014 08:49:53 +0000agency reporter20730 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukObama fails Guantanamo detainees, says Reprieve http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/18435
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<p>President Obama has failed to provide any meaningful assistance to the hunger-striking detainees being held without charge at Guantanamo Bay, says Reprieve.</p>
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<p>President Obama, in a major defence policy speech, failed to provide any meaningful assistance to the hunger-striking detainees being held without charge at Guantanamo Bay, says legal charity Reprieve. The speech comes amid revelations that prisoners are being subjected to invasive and aggressive cavity searches as a matter of policy if they want to take phone calls or meetings with their lawyers.</p>
<p>In his speech, delivered 0n 23 May, President Obama:</p>
<p> - Failed to make clear how a new Department of State appointee will bring about transfers of detainees any better than the previous one did.<br />
- Set no clear time frame for transferring cleared detainees.<br />
- Called on Congress to lift restrictions on transferring detainees cleared for release, including British resident Shaker Aamer - despite the fact that he has the power to authorise these transfers immediately.<br />
- Announced he will review transfers of detainees to Yemen on a case-by-case basis – while these men have already been reviewed and cleared for release multiple times over the last decade, including by the President’s own taskforce.</p>
<p>Obama’s policy speech came as conditions in Guantanamo Bay have worsened for the hunger-striking detainees. Numerous prisoners have written to their lawyers at Reprieve detailing the invasive cavity searches to which a prisoner must now consent whenever they want to take a phone call or in-person meeting with their lawyer or a phone call with their family.</p>
<p>Younous Chekkouri, detained without charge for eleven years and cleared for release, wrote in a letter to his lawyer how “eight guards with the watch commander surrounded me in a room, while two of them put their hands all over me – my thighs, my privates, everything.</p>
<p>“Finally, in Camp 6, comes the worst. I found a band waiting for me...I was forced to put my face to a wall, with all of them behind me. I tried to reason with the watch commander, but he ordered me to shut my mouth. First one guard repeated the ‘search’, as before. Then a man put his finger in my behind. Then another guard started repeating the whole process, groping me, moving to assault me again, and I cried out: ‘This is not a search, this is humiliation!’ They laughed, saying it was ‘SOP’ [Standard Operating Procedure].”</p>
<p>The practice is resulting in many detainees ‘refusing’ calls or meetings with their lawyers and the rare calls they are allowed with family members in order to avoid the searches. Such has been the case with last remaining British resident Shaker Aamer. Mr Aamer’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, wrote last week to William Hague alerting him to the policy, which has now been made public.</p>
<p>The hunger-strike at Guantanamo Bay has been going for more than 100 days. Authorities at the prison put the number of men striking at 102; lawyers estimate it to be closer to 140 of the 166 men still being held. The strike began after President Obama closed the office charged with closing Guantanamo Bay and as conditions at the prison took a turn for the worse. Many prisoners now describe their treatment in the camp as being worse than under President George W. Bush.</p>
<p>Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve and lawyer for the men, said: “President Obama could get Shaker Aamer home tomorrow if he wanted. The UK government want Shaker back and his family are desperate to see him. Instead, he – and so many other of my clients languishing in the US’ gulag – are being put through physical abuse just to speak with their lawyers. It is shameful. I have only one message for Obama: shut it down.”</p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews BriefBarack Obamadetention without trialguantanamoguantanamo bayhuman rights abusesReprieveWorld NewsMon, 27 May 2013 09:28:07 +0000agency reporter18435 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukNew report on rampant repression after 20 years of Eritrean independencehttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/18382
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<p>Twenty years after independence, Eritrea’s prisons are filled with thousands of political prisoners locked up without charge, says a new report from Amnesty.</p>
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<p>Twenty years after independence, Eritrea’s prisons are filled with thousands of political prisoners locked up without ever being charged, many of whom are never heard from again, Amnesty International has said in a new report.</p>
<p><em>Twenty years of independence but still no freedom</em> details how, throughout the past two decades, government critics, journalists, people practising an unregistered religion, people trying to leave the country and those trying to avoid indefinite conscription into national service, have been detained without charge in atrocious conditions.</p>
<p>There is no independent media in the country, no opposition political parties, no civil society. Only four religions are recognised by the government.</p>
<p>Claire Beston, Amnesty International’s Eritrea researcher, said: “The government has systematically used arbitrary arrest and detention without charge to crush all opposition, to silence all dissent, and to punish anyone who refuses to comply with the repressive restrictions it places on people’s lives.</p>
<p>“Twenty years on from the euphoric celebrations of independence, Eritrea is one of the most repressive, secretive and inaccessible countries in the world.”</p>
<p>Amnesty believes that at least 10,000 political prisoners have been locked up by the government of President Isaias Afewerki, who has ruled since the country’s independence in 1993.</p>
<p>With no known exception, not a single political prisoner has ever been charged with a crime or tried, had access to a lawyer or been brought before a judge or a judicial officer to assess the legality and necessity of the detention.</p>
<p>In the vast majority of cases, the prisoners’ families are not informed of their whereabouts, and often never hear from their relative again after they are arrested. Torture is widespread. Practitioners of unregistered religions are tortured to force them to recant their faith.</p>
<p>Amnesty has received many reports of deaths in detention as a result of torture, appalling conditions or suicide. These include accounts of prisoners dying of treatable diseases such as malaria and illnesses caused by excessive heat.</p>
<p>There is an extensive network of detention facilities in Eritrea – some are well known, others are secret. But the opaqueness around detention procedures in the country means the exact number is unknown.</p>
<p>Numerous detention centres use underground cells and metal shipping containers to house prisoners. Many of these prisons are in the desert and experience extremes of high and low temperatures that are magnified by underground conditions and metal container walls. All are overcrowded and unclean; food and drinking water are scarce.</p>
<p>One former detainee held in an underground cell in Wi’a military camp told Amnesty:</p>
<p>“We couldn’t lie down [in the underground cell]. It’s best to be standing because if you lie down, your skin remains stuck to the floor. The floor is terribly hot.”</p>
<p>Another who was held in a detention centre in Barentu, in the south west of the country, said:</p>
<p>“The room was about two and a half metres by three metres and we were 33 people. It was very, very hot. The door was closed, the ceiling was low, about two metres. The temperature was about 50 degrees. A boy, about 17 years old, was about to die. We were not permitted to speak, but we banged the door. They [the guards] told us they would kill all of us if we did not stop shouting. We couldn’t do anything to help him.”</p>
<p>Amnesty is calling on President Isaias Afewerki to immediately release all prisoners of conscience arrested for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, opinion, association, religion or belief, or their identity as family members of people who have fled the country.</p>
<p>The Eritrean authorities must also charge anyone suspected of a recognisable crime and promptly give them a fair trial or else immediately release them. Family members must be informed of their relatives’ whereabouts.</p>
<p>“These arbitrary arrests and detentions are illustrative of the absolute intolerance the Eritrean authorities have for dissent of any kind as a result of which thousands of political prisoners are languishing in terrible conditions. This has to end,” said Claire Beston</p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews BriefAmnesty Internationaldetention without trialEritreafreedom of religiontortureWorld NewsSun, 12 May 2013 16:07:50 +0000agency reporter18382 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukNew call for government to act over Shaker Aamerhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/18330
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<p>Amnesty International has issued a new call for the UK government to act on behalf of Guantánamo detainee Shaker Aamer.</p>
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<p>Ahead of a parliamentary debate on the plight of the Guantánamo detainee Shaker Aamer to be held today (24 April), and with hunger strikes at the US detention centre spreading, Amnesty International has issued a new call for the UK government to act on Mr Aamer’s behalf. </p>
<p>Aamer, a 44-year-old former UK resident who has been held at Guantánamo for over 11 years, is one of 84 of the camp’s 166 detainees currently on hunger strike, and MPs are set to discuss his case in a Westminster Hall debate today (9.30-11.00, sponsored by Jane Ellison MP. (Aamer’s family live in her Battersea, Balham and Wandsworth constituency).</p>
<p>Detainees began their protest in early February in reaction to what they said were abusive cell searches and deteriorating conditions. The military authorities have rejected the claims, but have acknowledged a sense of despair among detainees because they think the US administration has abandoned its efforts to close the detention facility. </p>
<p>The military authorities have reportedly said that 16 detainees on hunger strike are being tube fed and five have been hospitalised. The issue of force-feeding protesters on hunger strike raises serious issues of medical ethics, informed consent, detainee autonomy, confidentiality and the treatment of detainees. The lawyer of Yemeni national Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, who has been on hunger strike since February, recently told a New York Times reporter that his client had said: “I will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube up my nose. I can’t describe how painful it is to be force-fed in this way.”</p>
<p>Though held at Guantánamo for well over a decade, Aamer has never been charged or tried and he remains detained despite the US authorities officially approving him for transfer out of the camp in 2009. In February Amnesty took a 20,000-strong petition to the US embassy in London demanding justice for Aamer. </p>
<p>Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: “The situation at Guantánamo is at crisis point. We need to see the UK government renewing its efforts to at long last secure freedom for Shaker Aamer if he is not to be charged.</p>
<p>“As the hunger strike at Guantánamo accelerates, the UK government should answer the question - is it doing enough to get Aamer out of there?</p>
<p>“Like all of the indefinite detentions at Guantánamo, Shaker’s plight is a travesty of justice. It is patently obvious that the US government has no intention of charging him with a recognisably criminal offence. In the absence of a fair trial, he should be released back to his family in Britain without further delay.”</p>
<p>Amnesty International researcher on health and detention James Welsh said: “Artificial, compulsory feeding would amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of international law if it is intentionally and knowingly conducted in a manner that causes unnecessary pain or suffering.</p>
<p>“The current situation heightens the need for detainees to be guaranteed continued and regular access to independent medical assessment and care, and for all medical personnel to abide by medical ethics.”</p>
<p>On 22 March, Amnesty wrote to US Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel, expressing concern about the health and well-being of the detainees, calling for the US administration to work with Congress as a matter of urgency to re-prioritise resolution of the detentions and closure of the facility. The organisation has not yet received a response.</p>
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Peace and NonviolenceNews BriefAmnesty Internationaldetention without trialguantanamohunger strikeshaker aamerUK governmentUK NewsWed, 24 Apr 2013 08:26:48 +0000agency reporter18330 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukLast UK resident in Guantanamo joins hunger strikehttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/18282
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<p>A British resident who has been held by the US without charge or trial for over eleven years has joined the hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay.</p>
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<p>A British resident who has been held by the US without charge or trial for over eleven years has joined the hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay.</p>
<p>Shaker Aamer from South London, whose wife and four children are all British citizens, told his lawyer on 29 March that he had lost over 30 pounds since joining the strike.</p>
<p>Lawyers for the Guantanamo inmates estimate around three-quarters of the 166 men still held there have joined the hunger strike, although the US military claims the number is lower.</p>
<p>In a legal declaration filed by his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, Mr Aamer also details how he has been subjected to sleep deprivation and violent procedures known as “Forcible Cell Extractions” while attempting to pray, in response to his hunger strike. These procedures are “excruciatingly painful,” particularly because of his long-term back injuries originally caused by mistreatment by the US in Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Mr Aamer is protesting his ongoing detention, despite having long been cleared for release by the US authorities and never having been charged or tried with any crime during his eleven year ordeal. Mr Aamer continues to be held despite British Foreign Secretary William Hague’s public calls for his release.</p>
<p>Clive Stafford Smith, Director of the legal charity Reprieve said: “The ongoing detention without charge or trial of these men is an affront to basic principles of justice. Shaker has a wife and four British kids – one of whom he’s never met – in London. The UK just accepts routine assurances from the US that all is well, when all is rotten in Guantanamo Bay. Does the UK really take the position that there is nothing more that can be done if a close ally is committing the on-going torture of Shaker Aamer?”</p>
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Peace and NonviolenceNews Briefdetention without trialguantanamo bayReprieveshaker aamerUK NewsFri, 05 Apr 2013 09:18:27 +0000agency reporter18282 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukZero Dark Thirty movie misleads on torturehttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17777
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<p>The popular movie Zero Dark Thirty, which depicts the hunt for Osama bin Laden, has been criticised for its legitimising of torture.</p>
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<p>The popular movie Zero Dark Thirty, which depicts the hunt for Osama bin Laden, has been criticised for its legitimising of torture. </p>
<p>The comments come on the eleventh anniversary of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre established by the USA on an occupied part of Cuba, which has attracted demonstrations across the world.</p>
<p>An article on the website of Human Rights Watch says the film "wrongly suggests that torture was an ugly but useful tactic in the fight against terrorism. It also falsely implies that information obtained through torture was critical to finding bin Laden." </p>
<p>It continues: "As the film-makers note, it is a fictionalised account, not a documentary. The use of torture violates US law and the country’s international legal obligations – even when 'authorised' by the US government. Its use damaged the reputation of the United States and its ability to promote human rights, while giving cover to abusers worldwide who use such techniques against political opponents and activists. </p>
<p>"Torture was counter-productive to the fight against terrorism, producing false and misleading information that may in fact have slowed the search for bin Laden and diverted attention from genuine security threats."</p>
<p>The HRW blog contains a detailed rebuttal of misleading information and implications in the movie.</p>
<p>Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organisations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights.</p>
<p>* 'US: Zero Dark Thirty and the Truth About Torture' - <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/01/11/us-zero-dark-thirty-and-truth-about-torture" title="http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/01/11/us-zero-dark-thirty-and-truth-about-torture">http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/01/11/us-zero-dark-thirty-and-truth-about-t...</a></p>
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Peace and NonviolencePeople and PowerNews Briefcinemadetentiondetention without trialfilmguantanamoguantanamo bayhuman rights watchmoviemoviestortureWorld NewsFri, 11 Jan 2013 16:58:50 +0000staff writers17777 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukObama must correct Guantanamo failure in second term, says Amnestyhttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17755
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<p>President Barack Obama must revisit the promise he made in 2009 to close the Guantanamo detention facility, Amnesty International has said.</p>
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<p>President Barack Obama must revisit the promise he made in 2009 to close the Guantanamo detention facility, Amnesty International has said, ahead of the 11th anniversary of the first detainee transfers to the US naval base in Cuba.</p>
<p>The plea came just days before Mr Obama's re-inauguration as US president. This time, says the globally known human rights NGO, he must commit the USA to releasing the detainees or bringing them to fair trial.</p>
<p>Today 166 detainees are still held at Guantanamo – out of the 779 men taken to the facility since 2002, the vast majority were held for years without charge or criminal trial.</p>
<p>Seven men have been convicted by military commission, including five as a result of pre-trial agreements under which they pleaded guilty in return for the possibility of release from the base.</p>
<p>Six detainees are currently facing the possibility of death sentences after military commission trials that do not meet international fair trial standards. </p>
<p>All six were subjected to enforced disappearance prior to their transfer to Guantanamo and, among other abuses, two of them were subjected to the torture technique known as 'water-boarding', effectively mock execution by interrupted drowning.</p>
<p>“The USA’s claim that it is a champion of human rights cannot survive the Guantanamo detentions, the military commission trials, or the absence of accountability and remedy for past abuses by US personnel, including the crimes under international law of torture and enforced disappearance,” said Rob Freer, USA researcher at Amnesty.</p>
<p>After first taking office in January 2009, President Obama pledged to resolve the Guantanamo detentions and close the facility within a year.</p>
<p>He also ordered an end to the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of 'enhanced' interrogation techniques and long-term 'black sites'.</p>
<p>But President Obama adopted the USA’s unilateral and flawed 'global war' paradigm and accepted indefinite detentions under this framework.</p>
<p>Then, in 2010, his administration announced that it had decided that four dozen of the Guantanamo detainees could neither be prosecuted nor released, but should remain in indefinite military detention without charge or criminal trial. </p>
<p>The administration also imposed a moratorium on repatriation of Yemeni detainees. and said that 30 such detainees would be held in “conditional” detention based on “current security conditions in Yemen”. This moratorium is still in place.</p>
<p>The Obama administration has blamed its failure to close the Guantanamo detention facility on Congress, which has repeatedly blocked the USA from meeting its human rights obligations in this context. </p>
<p>On 2 January 2013, President Obama nevertheless signed the National Defense Authorization Act, while criticising provisions in the Act which once again placed obstacles in the way of resolving Guantanamo detainee cases.</p>
<p>“International law does not allow different branches of government to duck the requirements of international law with this kind of blame game”, said Freer. “A country’s failure to meet its human rights obligations cannot be legitimised by pointing to domestic laws or policies.”</p>
<p>In any event, without real policy change, the Obama administration’s adoption of a notion of 'global war' means that even if the Guantanamo detention facility were to be closed, unlawful detentions would simply be relocated rather than ended.</p>
<p>The broad acceptance of the 'global war' paradigm across all three branches of the US federal government, the shielding of officials through immunity provisions and the continuing use of secrecy, has also facilitated the blocking of accountability and remedy for abuses committed at Guantanamo, in the secret CIA detention and rendition programmes and elsewhere.</p>
<p>“What needs to happen now is recognition and application of international human rights principles by the US authorities,” said Freer. “Military commission trials should be abandoned in favour of fair trials in ordinary civilian courts, detainees whom the USA has no intention of prosecuting should be released, and there must be full accountability and access to redress for human rights violations.”</p>
<p>Five men charged with involvement in the 9/11 attacks are currently facing the death penalty after trial by military commission. The government is also seeking the death penalty against a sixth Guantanamo detainee in another trial.</p>
<p>Details of where such detainees were held in CIA custody and how they were treated continues to be classified at the highest levels of secrecy.</p>
<p>Last month (December 2012) the military judge overseeing the '9/11' trial signed a protective order to prevent disclosure of such details during proceedings, purportedly on national security grounds. </p>
<p>Information concerning gross violations of human rights or serious violations of international humanitarian law should never be kept secret on national security grounds.</p>
<p>Further pre-trial proceedings in all six cases are scheduled to take place at Guantanamo later in January 2013.</p>
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Living EconomyPeace and NonviolenceNews BriefAmnesty Internationaldetentiondetention without trialguantanamoguantanamo bayhuman rightsWorld NewsTue, 08 Jan 2013 17:54:21 +0000staff writers17755 at http://www.ekklesia.co.ukRwanda asked to investigate unlawful detention and torturehttp://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17138
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<p>Rwanda’s military intelligence department has illegally held scores of civilians in military detention amid claims of torture, Amnesty says in a new report.</p>
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<p>Rwanda’s military intelligence department known as J2 has illegally held scores of civilians in military detention without charge or trial amid credible claims of torture, Amnesty International declares in a new report. </p>
<p><em>Rwanda: Shrouded in Secrecy: Illegal Detention and Torture by Military Intelligence</em>, published on 8 October 2012, reveals unlawful detention, enforced disappearances, as well as allegations of torture by J2.</p>
<p>The report details credible accounts of individuals being subjected to serious beatings, electric shocks and sensory deprivation to force confessions during interrogations.</p>
<p>“The Rwandan military’s human rights record abroad is increasingly scrutinised, but their unlawful detention and torture of civilians in Rwanda is shrouded in secrecy,” says Sarah Jackson, Amnesty’s Acting Deputy Africa Director.</p>
<p>Hidden from view by J2, scores of men languished in incommunicado detention for months and some alleged they were tortured.</p>
<p>Between March 2010 and June 2012, Amnesty International documented 45 cases of unlawful detention and 18 allegations of torture or ill-treatment at Camp Kami, Mukamira military camp, and in safe houses in the capital, Kigali.</p>
<p>The men were detained by J2 for periods ranging from 10 days to nine months without access to lawyers, doctors and family members.</p>
<p>Most had been rounded-up by the military from March 2010 onwards after grenade attacks in Kigali, the departure of the former army chief, Kayumba Nyamwasa, and in the run-up to the August 2010 presidential elections. Many of these detainees were later charged with threatening national security. </p>
<p>Some stated in court that they had been tortured and coerced to confess. In violation of international law, judges typically asked them to prove torture, rather than ensuring that the allegations are investigated. The failure of judges to probe confessions that defendants claimed to have been coerced undermines the credibility of the Rwandan justice system.</p>
<p>Two individuals – Robert Ndengeye Urayeneza and Sheikh Iddy Abbasi – are still missing since their enforced disappearance in March 2010.</p>
<p>At the United Nations Committee against Torture in Geneva in May 2012, the Rwandan authorities denied these cases of unlawful detention, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>The Committee against Torture called on the Rwandan government to investigate reports of secret detention places and provide information on enforced disappearances.</p>
<p>Individuals and even lawyers are afraid to raise allegations of unlawful detention and torture in Rwanda, fearful for their safety. One family took their case to the East African Court of Justice in Tanzania instead. The Court found that the detention of Lieutenant Colonel Rugigana Ngabo, without trial or charge for five months violated Rwanda’s obligations under the Treaty. </p>
<p>Following its obligation under the Convention against Torture, Rwanda has recently criminalised torture in its Penal Code.</p>
<p>Rwandan authorities have taken some positive steps to combat torture, including agreeing to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and inviting the Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit Rwanda. However, no official has yet committed to investigating these cases.</p>
<p> “Donors funding military training must suspend financial support to security forces involved in human rights violations,” said Jackson.</p>
<p>The Deputy Prosecutor General told Amnesty International that “there is no torture in our country and we can’t investigate on a false allegation.”</p>
<p>The number of new cases has declined over the last year, but the Rwandan authorities’ failure to prosecute those responsible makes it likely that J2 could revert to these practices in response to actual or perceived security threats.</p>
<p>Shrouded in Secrecy is based on seven research visits to Rwanda between September 2010 and June 2012. Amnesty International conducted over 70 interviews for this report including with individuals previously detained by the military, family members of people disappeared and lawyers. </p>
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Living EconomyNews BriefAmnesty Internationaldetentiondetention without trialRwandatortureWorld NewsTue, 09 Oct 2012 03:28:13 +0000agency reporter17138 at http://www.ekklesia.co.uk